We will set to work to raise that as soon as
it gets dark."
A breastwork of sandbags had already been erected behind the
breach, in case the enemy should make a sudden rush, and a couple
of hours' labor transformed this into a strong work; for the bags
were already filled, and only needed placing in position. When
completed, it extended in a horseshoe shape, some fifteen feet
across, behind the gap in the wall. For nine feet from the ground
it was composed of sandbags three deep, and a single line was then
laid along the edge to serve as a parapet.
"I don't think they will get over that," the Major said, when the
work was finished. "I doubt if they will be disposed even to try
when they reach the breach."
Before beginning their work they had cleared away all the fallen
brickwork from behind the breach, and a number of bricks were laid
on the top of the sandbags to be used as missiles.
"A brick is as good as a musket ball at this distance," the Major
said; "and when our guns are empty we can take to them; there are
enough spare rifles for us to have five each, and, with those and
our revolvers and the bricks, we ought to be able to account for an
army. There are some of the servants and syces who can be trusted
to load. They can stand down behind us, and we can pass our guns
down to them as we empty them."
Each man had his place on the work assigned to him. Bathurst, who
had before told the Major that when the time came for an assault
to be delivered he was determined to take his place in the breach,
was placed at one end of the horseshoe where it touched the wall.
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